The Parable of the Innertube

Even today some tires have innertubes, a tube inside the tire which can be repaired to keep the tire running on the road, even after the tire itself is punctured, and would otherwise fail.

Man's soul is much like his own innertube.

Man's body can defile himself, and left to itself in life's journey could fail him spiritually, but for his inner soul.

Most men fail spiritually and fall far short of the glory of God.

What his soul does then is to act as his conscience to urge him to repair, to repent of his shortcomings, as it were to renew him on his journey, with his hope renewed.

Will he then fail again?

And, if he does, how many times can he be renewed?

A typical, good innertube on a bicycle can be patched and repaired several times.

A disciple of Jesus Christ once asked him how many times he should forgive someone who offends him. Jesus said to forgive him not just once, but to forgive him seventy times seven.

With that as a minimum, can it be that God can forgive a man who offends his own soul seventy times seven?

If a man live to be an hundred years old, might he offend God 490 times, or more?

Some clearly have done so even more times than that. But, if a man truly repents, and tries to move on renewed again, even then he may fail again, and again.

Christ himself died for the immortality and eternal life of all men, regardless of their sinful natures, weaknesses, and rebelliousness.

Men's souls wish to be whole again. Repentance allows a man's soul to repair and to start their life's journey anew.

Some of God's children despair of ever returning to the love of God. Some abandon hope at their first failing to live as their conscience warns them they should live.

God is everlasting. God is love. His love is everlasting, reaching down to lift the fallen, and the despairing, on the sole condition of repentance, the acknowledgement that they have failed, and even that they have failed again.

Christ's atonement for men's sins covered a multitude of sins far beyond our comprehension.

The Bible says that there is only one unforgivable sin. That sin is blasphemy against the Holy Ghost.

For all others, man's soul is apparently repairable 490 times, or more.

We all fail as mortals to measure up anywhere close to the glory of God, and that is why He gave us the gift of His only begotten son, that we might be saved on the condition of sincere repentance each and every time we fall, but choose to rise again.

That is how we repair our innertube, and life's journey beckons once again.